Despite a Marxist Govt, trade unionism in Kerala is caught between private capital and public welfare

Achieving a welfare revolution through capitalism is something best left to Kerala, especially to the Government of a Marxist persuasion. Amid a two-day national strike by workers protesting the Union Government’s economic policies came an order of the Kerala High Court that the State Government employees must not take part in the strike and face punitive action if they do. The Pinarayi Vijayan Government issued at once a no-work-no-pay directive to dissuade absenteeism from work. The Government order majorly impacts the trade unions, mostly affiliated to the ruling CPI(M). It would be interesting to know how the CPI(M) explains the peculiar situation where its Government and its workers are on opposing sides on the issue of a strike that Marxists consider the primary weapon of protest. One might ask why the Marxist Government complied easily with the court order much to the anguish of trade union workers. It is perhaps for the first time that the Vijayan Government is seeing the impact of Nava Keralam — the fruit of what can be called an ideological compromise — it introduced at the party State conference earlier this month. Through this project, Vijayan steered his party firmly towards capitalism and has since defended it saying it balances capitalism and socialism. He now preaches that economic growth is as important as people’s welfare and both are interlinked. Growth can be stimulated faster by infusion of private investment.

And since the ultimate goal of depending on capitalist wealth is people’s welfare, the question of capitulating Marxist ideology before capitalism does not arise. Today or tomorrow, he will have to smoothen the ruffled feathers of the trade union leaders, most of whom are his close comrades. He will have to explain to them that his Government’s newfound interest in private investment means according top priority to the ease of doing business in Kerala. It means in turn that obsolete labour legislations will have to go and importantly, as he has told them already, trade unions will have to “behave”. He will also have to convince them that strikes and agitations are things of the past and the new mantra is something they are not used to — employees and management working together for securing profit. The two million workers affiliated with 16,500 trade unions in Kerala will have to digest the Nava Keralam mantra which, in Vijayan’s words, means: “We have to protect the interests of workers, but we must also take into account the investors’ capacity to pay what workers demand. We (need)… an ecosystem…(to) attract investment and ensure faster development of the State.” In the coming days, trade unionism in Kerala will see more curbs on its activities. They will be told to refrain from “unfair” targeting of industries. The CP(I)M faction of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions and the Karshaka Sangam may be asked to learn capitalist forms of protests.